Post Holiday Update

I thought it would be a good time to give you all an update since returning to London from my holiday in New Zealand, so here it is.

1. The Holiday

In case you were not aware, I have just spent a month in New Zealand with family and friends for Christmas. I had a wonderful time – the weather was great and the food amazing (as always). While most of my time was spent in Wellington (the Capital city), I did venture out to Hawkes Bay and Auckland. I had a great Christmas and I have been re-energized by the trip – which is good for the site as it means I have more energy for new lists!

2. State of the Site

While I was gone I tried to post at least one list a day – I succeeded for the most part but there were a few days without a list (either because of traveling, or not being near my computer). I was also unable to comment on most lists because I was so busy. Thanks to everyone who took this job on. I am very glad to be able to return to my old habits of monitoring and replying to as many comments as possible.

3. Site Costs

Time away has prevented me from promoting the site, which I try to do on a daily basis. This means the revenue for January is way down and, unfortunately, the cost of running the site is not. If you wish to make a donation towards the costs of running the site, please feel free to do so using the donation button in the top right of this page. The base donation is $10 but you can make it less or more as you please. In addition, if you are unable to make a donation but are planning to do some shopping on Amazon.com, if you click the amazon.com ad on the right hand side, any purchases you make contribute a small amount to the site.

4. Sharing

Please remember to share our lists with your friends and families and to promote them on the various websites you hang out on. The more people that come here the more diverse our comments will be – everyone wins! Remember that there is a series of buttons at the bottom of each list to help you share them with others.

5. EBook

I am considering writing an eBook with a collection of my favorite lists. I would like to charge a small fee for the book (to cover the time it will take me to put it together and the cost of downloading – it will be hosted on Amazon’s servers and I pay for downloads from there). What do you all think is a fair price for a book of that nature? The idea is that you can give copies of it to friends.

6. Logo Competition

The logo competition is coming along very well. There is only a week or so left for you to get your submissions in – so please hurry! Once the competition closes I will be posting all of the logos on the site forums for you all to look at and comment on. While I will make the final decision, I want your input to help me. When we have our new logo we will do a bit of redesign on the site and will start working on ideas for merchandise – like t-shirts, cups, etc.

7. Lists

As always I am very keen to receive lists from the readers – if you have an idea for a list – any type of list, send it in! It is always fun for me to read other peoples ideas and to be able to share many of them with the other readers on the site. It is quite a rush to read comments people make on your own lists so give it a try!

8. This Year

I like to think that this site is your site as much as it is mine. I am very keen to hear ideas on what you think we should do to expand on the site. What would you like to see here? What would make this site better? Don’t be shy – speak up!

9. Thanks

Thank you to everyone who came to the site in my absence and read and commented on our lists. It is so great to see that you all kept coming back despite knowing that I was not able to post as frequently. As always, it is your contributions that make this site so great!